


Coming Home

by WordsInTimeAndSpace



Series: On the Way Home [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dimension Hopping Rose, F/M, Fluff, Reunion, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 18:46:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7695316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsInTimeAndSpace/pseuds/WordsInTimeAndSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose's travels across dimensions finally come to an end as she is reunited with her Doctor, with a little help from his younger self.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts right where "One Step from Home" left off, so make sure to read the previous fics before! This is unbetaed and only quickly edited.

Rose watched from the arm chair how the Doctor strolled back to the console. She didn’t trust her legs to keep her upright right in that moment, not after he had taken her breath away in the best way possible. Her heart was beating rapidly against her ribs and she took a deep breath, trying to calm the hormones coursing through her veins. But she could still feel the Doctor’s lips against hers, could still taste him at the tip of her tongue. It didn’t help one bit to pull herself out of the tender moment between them. She had gone through years without this kind of intimacy, and now, after she’d been back in the Doctor’s arms, she craved it even more than before. It had been one of that moments that she wished could last forever, although she knew it was impossible. They had to go on. She still had another Doctor to find.

Letting out a long breath, Rose stood to join him at the console. The Doctor’s eyes were fixed on the monitor, the familiar circular symbols of his language flashing up, but his gaze still flickered to her for a second when she leaned against the console opposite from him. His lips curled into a smile and Rose rolled her eyes at the smug expression on his face. Either she looked as flushed as she felt, or he knew her already well enough to look through every kind of pretense.

“There, she found something!” the Doctor exclaimed before she could comment on it. “Looks like the exact right place in the timeline.” He jumped up to pull a lever, and the time rotor of the ship came back to life. The wheezing and groaning filled the console room as the Doctor settled on the console right next to her. “We’ll have you home in no time.”

Rose smiled, but the sad expression in his eyes dampered her exhilaration for the moment.

“You’ll have to forget this, don’t you?” she asked quietly. “Forget me?”

The Doctor’s smile slipped from his face. “I’m afraid I do,” he said. “Everything else would be too dangerous for the fabric of time. We can’t take that risk.”

Rose rested her head against his shoulder, letting out a sigh.

“I wish you didn’t have to.”

“I know. But it will be all the more exciting when I finally get to meet you in my own timeline. No spoilt surprises.”

The humour in his voice made Rose smile. She gave his hand a squeeze, but then the console beeped behind them and the Doctor whirled around as he turned back to the controls. “Right, we’re landing! Hold on!”

Rose gripped the console while the Doctor initiated the landing sequence, making the TARDIS groan and shudder until she finally landed with a dull thump. After the noise died down, the console room was suddenly quiet. Rose held her breath, trying to make out the readings on the monitors.

“Where are we?” she asked, a little breathless.

“Earth, London, 2010,” the Doctor exclaimed happily. “Perfect landing. Your Doctor’s TARDIS is just at the end of the street. My TARDIS is blocking her, otherwise it would mess up the controls, that’s why you can’t feel her already.”

It was all Rose needed to hear. She rushed through the console room, yanked open the doors and dashed out into the street.

Outside it was dark and rainy, the small alley only sparsely illuminated by street lights. But as soon as she stepped outside the golden essence of her Doctor’s TARDIS flooded her mind, drawing her gaze to the ship at the end of the street like a beacon in the dark. The intensity left her breathless for a second. 

The ship’s welcoming song echoed inside her mind, but there was something else beneath it. The familiar feeling of the Doctor’s mind, once a part of hers before the Void had torn their bond apart. Tears brimmed in Rose’s eyes as she reached out to him, relishing the warm essence of his mind at the edge of hers. They still weren’t fully connected, but his astonishment was strong enough to leak into her. Only a second later the door of his TARDIS was pulled open and the Doctor stumbled out. He looked at her in shock, his eyes wide open as if he couldn’t believe what he saw. 

Without thinking, Rose started running towards him. It seemed to pull the Doctor out of his shock and he started running as well, a grin on his lips that seemed to light up the whole night. Tears blurred Rose’s vision and for a moment she only saw a flash of brown racing towards her, but then she was finally in his arms.

“Rose, Rose, Rose,” the Doctor whispered, over and over again, clinging to her as if his life depended on it. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as close as she could as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. 

“Doctor,” Rose cried, her voice breaking. The Doctor only held her tighter. He pressed his lips to the top of her head before moving to her face, peppering kisses along her forehead until his lips rested against her temple.

“Can I?” he asked, his voice hoarse and hopeful. His fingertips brushed over her other temple, his hands shaking slightly. Rose could feel him at the edge of her mind, warm and familiar and desperate for a proper connection, and welcomed him inside without a second of hesitation. 

They both gasped as the Doctor entered her mind and their bond snapped back into place, as if their minds still knew exactly how they fit together, even after all the years spent apart. The Doctor’s emotions rushed into her and for a moment Rose was overwhelmed by the radiant love he felt for her.

“I love you,” the Doctor said, framing her face with his hands. Rose looked up at him, her vision blurring with tears. “I didn’t get to say it again on the beach, but I need you to know. Rose Tyler, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rose said through her tears and the Doctor smiled before his lips finally found hers.

They kissed for a long moment until Rose felt another presence at the edge of her mind, somehow both familiar and strange at once. It felt like an echo of the Doctor, but skewed somehow, younger and softer-

Rose broke apart from the Doctor and whirled around, watching the younger Doctor stroll over to them, looking at them in astonishment. But he smiled as he approached, his eyes shining with joy. Rose held her breath and concentrated for a second on the other presence inside her mind. This time she was sure it was him.

The Doctor behind her cleared his throat. “We- I mean, he and I, we’re essentially the same person, that’s why we’re telepathically linked. A little strange, to have another version of yourself in your head. And because you’re in my head, you can feel him too.”

“I must admit, even after I saw that you’re connected to the TARDIS, I didn’t quite expect that,” the Doctor with the curls said in awe. He let out a shuddering breath and tore his gaze away from her face. “I- I think I should go. Now that you’re back with him.”

“Right,” the other Doctor said. “Thank you for bringing her home.”

The Doctor nodded, his lips curling into a smile as he watched his older self. “It was my pleasure.”

Rose took a step toward him, unsure at first. But when the Doctor’s gaze flickered back to her and a wave of affection radiated off from him, Rose quickly crossed the distance between them and threw herself into his arms. The Doctor didn’t hesitate to embrace her. Rose pressed her face against his shoulder, trying to find the right words to say. This was the eighth body of the Doctor, and she knew what that meant. Knew what he had to do soon. It broke her heart that he had to do these things alone, that she couldn’t be at his side.

“I love you,” Rose finally said, her voice quivering. “I know you have to forget that you met me, but don’t forget that, okay?”

The Doctor pulled back, enough to see her face, and looked at her in astonishment. Rose could see his emotions dancing in his eyes, longing and amazement that trickled over to her through the mental connection they shared with the older Doctor. For a second Rose thought he was about to speak, but instead he dipped his head down to hers and kissed her hard. 

Rose gasped at the passion he poured into the kiss, so different from the kiss they shared before, but she responded with equal enthusiasm. He gripped her waist to pull her flush against him while Rose buried her fingers into his curls, holding him exactly where she wanted him to be.

For a long moment his pleasure was all she could feel, but when the Doctor trailed his tongue along her bottom lip and she readily opened her mouth for him, a wave of jealously trickled over to her. The Doctor seemed to feel the same thing, because he suddenly pulled back from her. He loosened his grip around her waist and Rose stumbled a step back, only to collide with the other Doctor standing behind her. He curled an arm around her hip, pulling her back flush against his chest. The younger Doctor was still standing in front of them, one of his hands still resting on her waist. His cheeks were flushed and he was breathing hard, trying to catch his breath. The other Doctor’s breath hit Rose’s neck and she shivered in his arms. A flash of arousal shot through her too sudden to block it from the Doctors and the flush on the younger Doctor’s cheeks deepened. He cleared his throat and made a step back, out of her grasp, and the moment of intimacy between the three of them was broken.

“Right,” the younger Doctor said. “I think it’s time.”

Rose hesitated for a second, biting her lip. “You could- I mean, you could stay? A little?” she finally asked.

The Doctor’s face softened, but he shook his head. “Rose Tyler, believe me when I say that saying goodbye to you is hard enough as it is. Staying any longer won’t make it any easier. Quite the contrary.”

A heartbeat passed between them in silence. And then Rose nodded. As much as she wanted him to stay at her side, she knew it wasn’t time for him. Not yet.

“Okay,” she finally said.

“Goodbye,” the Doctor said with a genuine smile. “I look forward to meet you in my future.” 

He turned and slowly walked back to his TARDIS. Rose nearly succumbed to the urge to break out into a run to follow him, but the other Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. He send a wave of solace through their link and Rose turned in his embrace until she could wrap her arms around his waist. She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent, and finally felt herself relax. It had taken her years of longing and fighting and searching, but she’d done it. She was finally home.


End file.
